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Original analysis + the rest of the news cycle.

FightIQ originals — data-driven previews, recaps, features, and explainers we wrote in-house, linked to the same model that powers our predictions. Aggregated headlines — the rest of the MMA web with full source credit + link-outs.

FightIQ news 2026-07-18

Everyone around Usman's return is asking about his knees

Islam Makhachev, Frankie Edgar and Du Plessis's own coach have circled the same fight-week question about Kamaru Usman's move to middleweight: can his knees still carry his wrestling?

FightIQ morning-report 2026-07-18

FightIQ Morning Report - Saturday, July 18

Holloway ended McGregor's comeback and our model called it; tonight it's Du Plessis vs. Usman in Oklahoma City. The autopsy, the build, and an honest hold on tonight's number.

FightIQ recap 2026-07-18

The Holloway call the room bet against

UFC 329 autopsy: our model tagged Max Holloway a HIGH pick against a returning Conor McGregor, went 4-for-4 on every conviction call and got the method right too. The only losses were toss-ups.

FightIQ morning-report 2026-07-07

FightIQ Morning Report - Tuesday, July 7

McGregor's back Saturday after 1,827 days, the fight world is split on it, and the model won't fake a read. UFC 329 week, plus the bookings and where our numbers stand.

FightIQ news 2026-07-07

The fight world can't agree on Conor McGregor, and the split runs straight through the champions

Aspinall says Round 1 knockout. Masvidal says Ferrari with a quarter tank. Belal, Mendes and Matt Brown all land somewhere in between. Here's every UFC 329 take, sorted.

FightIQ preview 2026-07-07

McGregor is back after 1,827 days. Our model still leans Holloway — quietly

Thirteen years after McGregor won their featherweight fight, the rematch lands at welterweight with a five-year layoff attached. The model favors Holloway, but this is exactly the fight it knows least about.

FightIQ news 2026-07-07

The bookings tell you who the UFC is testing: a headliner, a rebound, and a heavyweight leaving the building

A quiet booking week put a middleweight main event on the calendar, handed Marlon Vera a way off a four-fight skid, and sent an ex-PFL champ to Abu Dhabi. Here is what each move is actually for.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-29

Fight week opens on a number nobody can model: McGregor, 5 years gone, meets a sharper Holloway

UFC 329 is set for July 11 with start times and the full card out. Dan Hooker tips his cap, Georges St-Pierre talks "hell zone," and Justin Gaethje wants a seat. Here is the honest read, including why we will not hand yo…

FightIQ news 2026-06-29

St-Pierre likes Makhachev at UFC 330, and the lightweight title fight has its own argument

GSP gives the welterweight champ the edge over Garry; one division down, Pimblett and Tsarukyan's camp pull the contender debate in opposite directions.

FightIQ news 2026-06-29

An 11-time referee of the year is now the subject of a removal petition

Alex Pereira shared a petition to ban Herb Dean, Tom Aspinall and Jorge Masvidal piled on, and Dana White punted to the commission. The foul claim is still an allegation, and the officiating debate it reopened is the rea…

FightIQ recap 2026-06-29

The autopsy: an 11-2 night at UFC Baku, and the two picks we got wrong

Our model went 11-2 on winners in Baku, one of its better cards of the year. It still missed twice: the main event it graded a coin flip, and a high-confidence pick that got submitted in the first round.

FightIQ morning-report 2026-06-29

FightIQ Morning Report - Monday, June 29

Baku's done and the model graded its misses; McGregor-Holloway fight week is here; and a referee is still the story. The day's threads and where our numbers stand.

FightIQ news 2026-06-23

Umar Nurmagomedov wants Song Yadong, and our model didn't see a 'punching bag'

The No. 3 bantamweight called Song a "punching bag." On the same January card we modeled Song's O'Malley loss as a near coin flip.

FightIQ news 2026-06-23

Ngannou names his next dance partner, and it's Verhoeven, not Aspinall

The Predator says a Rico Verhoeven crossover is "what I have in mind for right now." The UFC superfight everyone wants is still a fan poll with no contract behind it.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-23

Du Plessis returns against Usman in OKC, and the market already picked a side

The former middleweight champ opens around -340 over a welterweight legend moving up. The odds gap is the story; our model hasn't priced this one.

FightIQ news 2026-06-23

Dana White says the White House global numbers are still coming. The ones we have are already a moving target.

The UFC sold Freedom 250 as a viewership event. A week on, the figures depend on which figure you pick, and the one White says matters most is not out yet.

FightIQ morning-report 2026-06-23

FightIQ Morning Report — Tuesday, June 23

We finished grading every 2026 card with a prediction: 67.4% across 187 calls, hits and misses. Plus Baku week, the McGregor-Holloway build, and the White House fallout.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-22

Fiziev headlines at home in Baku, and the form points at Torres

An Azerbaijani lightweight tops UFC Fight Night 280, but our model and the recent records both lean toward the younger finisher across the cage.

FightIQ news 2026-06-22

McGregor is a heavy underdog at UFC 329. The build is louder than the math.

Bisping and Pimblett both point to one number on Conor McGregor's side. We'd point to the five years no one can model.

FightIQ feature 2026-06-22

St-Pierre's three takes this week all point the same way: protect the fighter from the sport

Retire Gaethje, push McGregor into the "hell zone," defend Zahabi's plan. Different fighters, one throughline from a man who walked away on top.

FightIQ news 2026-06-22

Gaethje wants equity, not a truck: the champ is bargaining over what he's already done

Justin Gaethje turned down Arman Tsarukyan's $5.7 million-funded gift and floated a different ask: an ownership stake in the UFC. One is a feud. The other is a fighter-pay argument the sport keeps circling back to.

FightIQ news 2026-06-22

Pereira says he's 'afraid' to fight again as the Gane officiating fight rolls on

Eight days after a contested heavyweight title loss, Alex Pereira has openly questioned whether he wants to keep fighting. Joe Rogan, weighing in on the disputed blows, landed somewhere in the middle: a couple were illeg…

FightIQ feature 2026-06-21

The Comeback Index: Kyoji Horiguchi Left the UFC for Nine Years — and Won on the Way Back

Our data sweep for the sport's biggest return arcs surfaced one gap that dwarfs the rest: 3,290 days between Octagon appearances.

FightIQ briefing 2026-06-21

Kape's Climb Meets Horiguchi's Comeback at the APEX

A prospect-heavy card with a flyweight headliner that pits the division's hottest finisher against its best return story.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-21

A Rising Knockout Artist Meets the Sport's Great Comeback Story

Manel Kape is finishing everyone in front of him. Kyoji Horiguchi is two wins into a return nine years in the making.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-21

The Unbeaten Prospect vs. the Unpredictable Veteran

Navajo Stirling is 4-0 in the UFC; Ion Cutelaba has seen everything the light heavyweight division can throw at him.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-21

Two Featherweights Trying to Halt a Slide

Both men need a result — and a common opponent hangs over the matchup.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-21

A Surging Brazilian Against a Grizzled Gatekeeper

Vinicius Oliveira built a strong run before a recent stumble; Andre Fili is the 26-fight veteran who tests everyone.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-21

A Striker Rebuilding Against an Unknown

Melsik Baghdasaryan looks to recover from a brutal knockout; his opponent arrives with no UFC tape.

FightIQ recap 2026-06-21

Manel Kape waited nine years. It took him one right hand.

Kape erased a 2017 loss to Kyoji Horiguchi with a third-round knockout at UFC Vegas 119, then asked for Joshua Van. Our model went 9 of 12 on the night, but its one LOCK lost.

FightIQ news 2026-06-21

Du Plessis vs. Usman is real now, and it lands in Oklahoma City on July 18

After six months of leaks and a cryptic Instagram jab, the UFC made it official Saturday night: Dricus du Plessis returns against a former welterweight king moving up to chase a second belt.

FightIQ feature 2026-06-21

The UFC is handing its rankings to an algorithm. We run one. Here's what it can and can't do.

An AI ranking system debuts Monday alongside the media panel. As a data-led desk, we know the parts that will work and the parts that won't.

FightIQ news 2026-06-21

The Gane question nobody can settle: dirty fighter, or a referee who missed it?

A week after Ciryl Gane stopped Alex Pereira for the interim heavyweight title, the fight has become an officiating story. Dana White says Pereira is no whiner. MMA Fighting is asking whether Gane is the sport's dirtiest…

FightIQ news 2026-06-21

The week MMA's business problems came with price tags

A reported $100 million ask kept Trevor Wittman's gloves out of the cage, while Dana White called Tom Aspinall's deal with a boxing promoter "insane." Both fights run on the same question: who captures the value in a UFC…

FightIQ data-take 2026-06-21

UFC Vegas 119 autopsy: 9 of 12, and the one lock we flagged loudest lost

The model went 7 for 7 on finishes and called a coin-flip headliner right. It also burned its single biggest pick of the night for the second card running. Here is the full grade, misses included.

FightIQ feature 2026-06-20

Gaethje finally has the belt. Now the hard part: deciding who gets the first shot

The new lightweight champion says he doesn't want a Topuria rematch. A revenge fight, a megastar and a snubbed No. 1 contender are all circling.

FightIQ news 2026-06-20

The price of a superfight: Makhachev says money killed the Topuria fight

Makhachev put a $20M figure on the superfight that collapsed, while pouring his own money into padel and warning the UFC's pay could cost it Usman Nurmagomedov.

FightIQ news 2026-06-20

McGregor's comeback runs on noise. The fight is the part nobody's verified.

A jab at Holloway, a Tonight Show booking that drew real anger, and an International Fight Week return: the volume is back. The fighter has been gone five years.

FightIQ preview 2026-06-20

Ankalaev vs. Rountree in Abu Dhabi: a crossroads fight for a wide-open division

Two top-five light heavyweights, both off losses to elite competition, fight to lead a scrambled division. FightIQ has no model number for this card yet, so this runs on verified records and market context.

FightIQ news 2026-06-20

UFC 330 takes shape: Makhachev-Garry on top, Dern-Robertson the fight to study

Two title fights and a flyweight eliminator are signed for Philadelphia on Aug. 15. The rest is still rumor, including a light heavyweight bout the reporting suggests may not even fit.